Rumors Linked Club Celebrity, Mob

There had always been dark rumors among South Beach beautiful people about Chris Paciello, the handsome king of the Miami Beach nightlife.

In hushed tones as the music played, people whispered that Paciello, 28, a muscular, tight T-shirt wearing New Yorker who moved to South Beach in 1994, was mob-connected.

That's what a Village Voice story implied two years ago, detailing a long list of Paciello's run-ins with the law.

But in the superficial, fast-lane world of South Beach, no one looked any deeper or cared about Paciello's less-than-glamorous, and apparently violent past, according to a federal indictment filed Wednesday in New York. The indictment charges Paciello with taking part in a mob-related murder and bank robbery.

Paciello now sits in a Miami federal prison.

His business partner, Ingrid Casares, a friend of pop singer Madonna, will run their two nightclubs -- Liquid and Bar Room -- and the restaurant Joia.

In South Beach, Paciello came to be known as a friend and fixer for many of the celebrities who pass through South Beach.

Paciello, who lives in a waterfront mansion and owned a 50-foot yacht, escorted girlfriends like Madonna, supermodel Nikki Taylor and actress Jennifer Lopez.

His bond hearing on Thursday, in Miami, could turn into an event as some of his famous friends may show.

But back in the early 1990s, Paciello ran with a tougher crowd, the indictment said. Paciello was part of a Mafia-led goon squad. The 62-count indictment, which only names Paciello in three counts -- murder, robbery conspiracy and attempted robbery -- reads like an episode of HBO's mob series The Sopranos.

Paciello, whose real name is Chris Ludwigsen, was known in the street as "the Binger," the indictment said.

Eight other men were also arrested. All are described as "members and associates" of the Bonanno crime family, part of La Cosa Nostra.

The indictment said Paciello took part in a 1993 home-invasion robbery that left Judith Shemtov, a Staten Island housewife, dead. A year earlier, the gang robbed a Chemical Bank branch on Staten Island.